Paris Barclay on ‘Sons of Anarchy’ Season 6 Finale: ‘Really, a Fork?’

*Fans of the FX drama “Sons of Anarchy” have a wild ride in store for the seventh and final season premiering Sept. 9. And writer/creator Kurt Sutter will have his right hand on executive producer duty every step of the way.

“I [directed] an episode every year except for the Irish year, where I think I was doing [HBO’s] ‘In Treatment’ at that time,” said “SOA” co-executive producer and director Paris Barclay at the recent TCA press tour. “I’ve always been involved with it, and I’ve obviously known Kurt since ‘The Shield.’ So it’s a show that I’ve never missed just as a fan and as a director.”

Creator/executive producer Kurt Sutter (L) and executive producer/director Paris Barclay attend FX’s “Sons of Anarchy” panel during Comic-Con International 2014 at San Diego Convention Center on July 27, 2014 in San Diego, California.

Sutter wrote 19 episodes of “The Shield,” FX’s critically-acclaimed police drama, with Barclay directing three episodes during its seven season run. Having worked with each other since 2002, the filmmakers have a shorthand on “SOA” that fares well on set as well as in the writer’s room.

“It’s great having Paris, because I have a producer and a director who’s also a writer, and so the lines of communication are direct,” said Sutter. “We very rarely have to say much. The communication is really at a shorthand. And it’s a good for me, it’s a really rare and special creative connection.”

So how does this connection materialize on set?

“I will say things like, ‘Does it have to be a fork,’ every once in a while,” Barclay explains, referring to the stunning season six finale, when a major character was killed off with a fork to the head. “I mean, really, a fork? And how long a fork? I mean, we’ve lived with that for a while.”

In addition to executive producing the last season of “Sons of Anarchy,” the 58-year-old native of Chicago Heights, IL is also the current president of the Director’s Guild of America, having helmed more than 135 episodes of television to date – most recently the 100th episode of “Glee” and an episode of “The Good Wife.”

Below, the Harvard-educated producer gets specific about what he brings to “Sons of Anarchy” as its executive producer:

FX’s “Sons of Anarchy” begins its seventh and final season on Sept. 9 at 10 p.m. Watch the promo below.

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